"We literally lived parallel lives," Isabel Sanchez says of
her fiancé Daniel Huerta. It is uncanny to hear them talk about it.

Both were born in California but raised in Mexico with
families 42 miles apart. Both returned to the US as older children to live in
Washington. "We weren't 1st generation or 2nd generation
Americans. We were generation 1.5," she says of their experience moving between
countries.

He graduated from Western Washington University. She
graduated from Eastern Washington University. They had mutual friends. Both had
been had been married previously. Neither had children. Both moved to Oregon
and led professional lives.

"It is my favorite color," Huerta says of her deep cobalt
blue shawl. "It was intriguing." After reveling with friends over Mexican beer,
Huerta was taken by her blend of traditional and non-traditional. "I knew this
one would be a keeper," he says.

Fast forward two years. Huerta and Sanchez had started a
food cart together called Churros Locos. They were selling their heavenly bits of
fried batter, covered in cinnamon-sugar at the very same Grito NW where they met.

As Sanchez tells it, "We had been working for something like ten
hours when he said, 'We need to take a picture.'" She remembers him asking her
if she wanted to do this forever. She thought of all the happy customers, the
smiles, the fun, the churros. "I said, OH ya."

Huerta, not convinced she understood him, got down on his knees.
"No, do you want to do this for ever and ever?" he asked her. "Do you want to
be the mother of my children?" She said yes. They will wed in Vegas over
Memorial Day weekend.

Greatest Challenge to
their love?

"We went from being full-time professionals to being part-time,
entrepreneurs and contractors. " Sanchez says. In addition to Churros Locos,
they now work three jobs between them. The have downsized areas of their lives.
"You can't have it all," she adds.

"We just have a lot of fun and flexibility," Huerta says. Common
values and temperaments help. "We both were happy people when we started
dating," he says. "We are happy now."